OData is a Web-based data access protocol for requesting and updating data. OData applies and builds upon Web technologies such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Atom Publishing Protocol (AtomPub), and JavaScript® Object Notation (JSON) to provide access to information from a variety of applications, services, and data stores. OData may be used to expose and access information from a variety of sources including, but not limited to, relational databases, file systems, content management systems and traditional websites.
Software applications often make calls to an OData service to, for example, request access to a data object exposed by the OData service. When creating a software application that makes OData requests, a software developer needs high working knowledge of how OData queries are structured. The structure includes specific types of queries, which follow specific rules including syntax. A developer with little or no knowledge of this structure is unable to take advantage of OData's support for complex queries. Additionally, even experienced developers can sometimes make mistakes such as ignoring case sensitivity or spelling errors. Such mistakes are difficult to avoid when creating complex queries.